Premier Rachel Notley will soon head to British Columbia to sell the merits of a new oil pipeline — and Alberta’s environmental bona fides — as the B.C. government appears to be moving toward support of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain project.

Notley spoke to reporters from Ottawa Wednesday, a day after the Trudeau government gave approval to the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline to Burnaby, as well as Enbridge’s Line 3 into the United States.

While the federal approval of the $6.8-billion Trans Mountain project is cause for elation for Alberta’s NDP government — which is desperately seeking new markets for the province’s oilsands crude — the pipeline still faces enormous opposition from B.C. environmentalists, First Nations and municipal leaders.

Notley said in a conference call that she hoped to be in B.C. as soon as next week, with more visits to follow.

“I look forward to being able to make the case to the people of B.C. for why we believe that this pipeline is a good decision,” she said.

“It’s really important for me to go out there and say to those people who link the pipeline to the issue of climate change and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, that in fact our climate change leadership plan has very effectively delinked those issues.”

At the federal announcement Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explicitly said the Trans Mountain expansion would not have been approved without Alberta’s actions on climate change. The NDP’s greenhouse gas reduction strategy calls for an incoming carbon tax, a cap on oilsands emissions and an accelerated phase-out of coal-fired power in the province.

The Liberal government in B.C. has laid out five conditions for its approval of any new heavy oil pipeline, including regulatory approval, world-leading oil spill response capabilities both on land and sea, indigenous participation and B.C. receiving its “fair share” of the jobs and economic benefits from the project.

In a news conference Wednesday, Premier Christy Clark said she was “very pleased” with the progress made on the five conditions, citing Trudeau’s recently announced ocean protection plan as a key example.

She said the government still needs to work out details on the ocean spill program and on the economic issues but the premier believes all five conditions can be met well before the next B.C. election is called in the spring of 2017.

If that happens, Clark said her government will support the Kinder Morgan project.

“I believe we have to find ways to balance resource development and job creation in this country with environmental protection,” said Clark.

The opponents of Trans Mountain in B.C. includes those with strong NDP connections. Vancouver’s Mayor Gregor Robertson, a former B.C. NDP MLA, has slammed the decision while the New Democrat Opposition in the legislature has said “Kinder Morgan cannot go forward.”

But Notley said “there is a need to move forward on environmental progress while at the same time being respectful of the needs of all Canadians to maintain prosperity and economic security.”

“Those are values which matter, not only I think to most people in B.C., but to many New Democrats. So I’ll continue to make that case. Will we be successful in every case? … No. But I do think there’s value in making that case.”

At the same time Trudeau gave the go-ahead to Trans Mountain and Line 3, he announced that Ottawa was rejecting Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway line to Kitimat and was moving forward with a promise to ban oil tanker traffic on the northern coast of B.C.

Notley has always said she saw no path forward for Gateway because of the strong opposition to the pipeline but on Wednesday said there are fundamental differences between the Kinder Morgan and Trans Mountain projects.